The Washington Huskies will look to rebound off a difficult loss to No. 5 Duke when the host the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos who received a confidence boost with a close win over the San Diego Toreros, earlier in the week. <\/p>\n
Date\/Time: 10:00 PM ET, Friday, December 16, 2011 Santa Barbara outshot San Diego in a big way while beating them on the boards.<\/p>\n The Gauchos, stifled the Toreros shooting 52 percent for the game while playing good defense especially on the defensive end of rebounding. UC-Santa Barbara hit the glass harder than San Diego, 26 defensive rebounds to 17, and that eventually led to more possessions.<\/p>\n Jaime Serna led all scorers against the Toreros with 22 points on a whipping 75 percent shooting effort and led everyone with five blocked shots. [soliloquy id=”82219″]<\/p>\n The win moves UC-Santa Barbara to 5-2 as they seem to be rolling through the early part of the season.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Tony Wroten led Washington with 23 points while C.J. Wilcox added 22 but could not chase down the Blue Devils, eventually falling 86-80 at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday.<\/p>\n The Huskies, which trailed by 17 points midway through the second half, rallied to within 78-72on Abdul Gaddy\u2019s layup with 59 seconds left, but could get no closer.<\/p>\n Duke used a 17-5 run midway through the first half to build a 30-13 lead and Washington played catch up for the remainder of the game.<\/p>\n The Huskies entered the day sixth in the nation in rebounding, but were outrebounded 39-32. Washington lost leading rebounder Aziz N\u2019Diaye to a sprained knee early in the second half and it is unlikely he will be ready to play against Santa Barbara on Friday.<\/p>\n That could give the Gauchos a much needed leg up on the boards that could be just enough to pull off the win in this one.<\/p>\n
\nVenue: Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, Seattle, Washington
\nBroadcast: ROOT
\nSpread: OFF
\nOver\/Under: OFF
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\nThe Gauchos set a season high for turnovers in a game that, although, expected to win, was probably much closer than it should have been as they eked out a 65-61 win.<\/p>\n